Day 4

I dream of rain, I dream of gardens in the desert sand...

Left Houston, TX 8:30AM Central Time.  With stops in San Antonion, TX; Kerrville, TX; and Fort Stockton, TX.  Final destination El Paso, TX approx. 9:45PM Mountain Time.  Approx. 745 miles. 

Awoke in Davis' luxury hotel room in Houston, TX (sponsored by the wonderful Episcopal High School of Houston).  Ate, packed up, grabbed the Wall Street Journal, and hit the road.  Headed straight for San Antonio. 


Met up with Jamie and got lunch at Taco Haven.  Perhaps the only gringos in the place.  Tremendous Tex-Mex (someone please enlighten to the line between Tex-Mex and Mex; it seems blurry at best).

Jamie provided an insiders tour of the city.  Started in the Victorian neighborhood established by German immigrants in the late 1800s.

Notable sights included: the Alamo, the Riverwalk, the first building to have air conditioning west of the Mississippi River, and the Robert E. Lee Hotel - confirming we were still in the American South (...but not for long)

We said adios to Jamie and ventured off into the pristine desert.

After departing San Antonio we moved into a landscape of rolling hills while listening to Johnny Cash's famous album "Live at Folsom Prison" and as we transitioned to a more arid level setting Doobin provided some Rodrigo y Gabriela, complementing the desert atmosphere. However the soothing sounds of the Mexican duo combined with the rhythmic spinning of the hundreds of electrical generating windmills began making us a bit too relaxed so we decided to stop at a McDonald's in the town of Kerrville to pick up some caffeine.

At the outset of the trip we had made a pact not to stop in any fast food joints, however we decided that getting a few large iced coffee's to get our blood flowing hardly violated the agreement. The gods of the road trip clearly disagreed, as was evidenced by the ensuing series of obstacles (some of which were more easily overcome than others).

About two hundred miles outside of Kerrville, I, Davis, realized that I had left my wallet containing my ID, two credit cards and $250 cash in Kerrville. Attempts to locate the wallet have as of yet proved futile.

After grabbing dinner at a small diner in Ft. Stockton we continued west on Route 10 through the desert. As the sun was descending over the mesas ahead of us we noticed storm clouds gathering to the south. Minutes later we were being pelted with chunks of hail larger than golf balls amidst a violent thunderstorm. Fortunately we passed through the storm unscathed (however the roof of my Honda is now covered in golf ball sized dents).

Our confrontation with mother nature ceased for a time as we enjoyed the spectacular desert sunset while listening to U2's "The Joshua Tree".

But this was only a brief hiatus. The danger of the hailstorm paled in comparison to the sandstorm that hit us about 100 miles east of El Paso. According to NOAA the area was dealing with wind gusts approaching 60 miles an hour which tossed our Honda all over the road. Despite Rob's adept driving we also collided with two tumble weed's while traveling approximately 70 miles an hour. Fortunately we had a some Flower Hour music to calm everyone's nerves as we passed through the storm and made it safely into the sprawling, neon illuminated city of El Paso. The three of us agree though that both storms were more exhilarating than anything else.

Through all the turmoil or beloved sticky pad inscribed with "Hail Mary" still rests comfortably on the inside or our windshield.